I recall as a child hearing my father, mother, family members and their friends talk about how growing up they had it so hard as opposed to how easy my brother and sisters had it during the 60’s and 70’s. One tale I heard is of how my dad slopped hogs, fed chickens, used an out house, and walked to school eight to ten miles in one direction. The other times he picked cotton in the heat of spring summer and fall.
When I was 10 years of age, growing up in St. Louis Mo, with indoor plumbing, a refrigerator, stove and washing machine, I truly appreciated my fathers tales when we traveled to attend my grand-fathers funeral in a small town in the Mississippi Delta.
I’m not going speak about the social issues my father experienced, but if you need info, just Google the Mississippi Delta between 1930 and 1970. Needless to say that over the following years as a family we only returned to Mississippi for funerals and not family vacation visits.
My mother grew up in St. Louis and her father fed the family oat meal every morning, and not the instant kind. Her bothers were up by 5:00 am every morning to shoveled coal into the stove in the basement before school to have heat in the house. My mother walked 5-6 miles in the city across a very long bridge to school everyday from elementary to high school. I think my father would have exchanged his life in Mississippi for life in the city if it was possible.
Both of my parents are now deceased but, they experienced an incredible amount of tough times and change in their lifetime. They raised five children, worked jobs, owned and managed businesses while maintaining the basic morals of respect, honor, integrity, responsibility, accountability, discipline, and the most important lesson I learned, sacrifice.
I have learned that over the course of a life time, there will be good times and bad, and it will seem that the bad will out-weigh the good at times. I have used the bad times to learn and understand discipline and perseverance. It is during bad times, I sharpen my focus on what is truly important in life and not allow media and friends influence me into thinking I needed to have material items when I could not afford them. I discovered that life will not come easy to me or for me.
With all of that being said, the topic of college student loan forgiveness comes to mind. I offer recommendations and suggestions for those struggling with this debt issue.
If you cannot find a job in your field of study where you currently live, move to a location where it is available and if it means leaving behind family and friends, then do it. It is your responsibility to fulfill the promise you made to pay your debt.
If the job you seek isn’t available, to be found on this planet, then it is time to look for work in another field, until the job you truly want becomes available. This is called perseverance.
I know the idea of working a second job is not a great idea for most but, if you believe one job will allow you to purchase everything you want, keep living and reality will come easily to a college educated person.
It is human nature to always want something, but I would recommend and suggest sacrificing a number of years of going without the luxuries and material items you dream of. Doing this is called sacrificing which builds character and people will gain a true appreciation for the goals they strive to attain once bad times have passed.
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